Buoyant mooring tower



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38% IINVENTOR.

- ABNER A.BRICK HOUSE BY I b- ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,407,416 BUOYANT MOORING TOWER Abner A. Brickhouse, Sidon, Lebanon Trans-Arabian 2Ijine Company, 505 Park Ave., New York, N.Y.

Filed Oct. 13, 1966, Ser. No. 586,502

8 Claims. (Cl. 9-8) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A single point mooring tower for loading and unloading ships, such as tankers, having a surface floatation compartment and a plurality of elongated variable buoyancy compartments depending therefrom and being anchored at its lower end with anchor lines under constant tension to provide a highly stable platform at its upper end for mooring and connection to a conduit leading downwardly through the tower.

My invention relates to an offshore mooring tower for the loading or unloading of fluids onto or from vessels such as tankers.

Onshore dock facilities for loading or unloading fluids such as crude petroleum onto or from vessels are attended by many disadvantages, e.g., fire hazard, costliness, the need for an adequate harbor, and the difiiculty encountered in approach or departure of the harbor under adverse weather conditions. Loading platforms of stationary or floating type situated remote from the shore, to a large extent eliminate these disadvantages. Offshore stationary platforms, however, have the disadvantages of inaccessibility and hazardness in turbulent seas. While floating platforms provide a structure which better weathers rough seas and minimizes the damage done by the collision of the vessel with the platform, such buoyant platforms offer little stability for mooring purposes as compared with the onshore docking facilities they were intended to replace. This inadequacy can be attributed in part to design which fails to distribute in a uniform manner the dislocating forces of sea or ship movement which tend to pull the platform out of its anchored position and subject it to undue stress with resultant damage.

My invention provides a single-point mooring and loading or unloading platform of improved resistance to dislocating forces. According to my invention, I provide a tower formed from elongated compartments of .variable buoyancy, a buoyant compartment attached to the top of the tower and anchoring means secured to the lower end of the tower. Fluid passage means run the internal length of the tower and buoyant compartment, and in conjunction with conduit means on the deck of the buoyant compartment, serve to connect a submarine pipeline with the intake manifold of a vessel.

The righting moment of the deep-draft buoyant tower, having its center of gravity in the lower section remote from the buoyant compartment attached to its upper section, combined with the anchoring means, resists dislocating forces and distributes the resultant stress in a substantially uniform pattern throughout the structure, thus providing a stable mooring and loading platform. In contrast to the deep-draft structure of my invention, prior floating platforms and buoys have utilized a shallowdraft buoyant chamber having its center of gravity in close proximity to the center of buoyancy and having the anchoring means proximal to the center of buoyancy.

My invention will be further illustrated by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

3,407,415 Patented Oct. 29, 1968 FIGURE 1 is an elevation view of the mooring tower structure;

FIGURE 2 is a partially-sectioned view of the upper portion of the mooring tower structure;

FIGURE 3 is a top view of the mooring tower structure; and

FIGURE 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a vessel moored to the tower.

Referring to FIGURE 1, a tower 1 is formed by a plurality of elongated compartments 2 shown as twelve water-tight cylinders, e.g., about feet in length and 30 inches in diameter, shown more fully in FIGURE 2, having valves 3 for varying buoyancy. The compartments are arranged in a cylindrical configuration so as to form an aperture 4, e.g. about 15 feet in diameter, therethrough, shown more fully in FIGURE 3. A buoyant compartment 5, e.g. about 40 feet in outside diameter is afiixed to the upper end of the tower 1 formed by the cylinders 2 and has an axial aperture 4, e.g. about 15 feet in diameter, also shown in FIGURE 3, contiguous with the aperture of the tower 1.

A conduit 6 for the passage of fluids, shown as a cylinder 36 inches in diameter, is positioned within the aperture 4 which runs the length of the tower 1, pro trudes beyond the lower end of the tower 1 and bifurcates into flexible hoses 7 which join to a submarine pipeline 8 which leads from onshore storage tanks.

Anchor chains 9, which hang in a catenary curve, are secured to the lower extremity of the flared tower base 10 and secure the base 10 to anchors 11 fixed in the marine bottom 12. Attached to the chain 9 at a point intermediate the anchors 11 and the base 10 are weights 13 secured to anchor chains 9 by chain length 14, of sufficient length to allow the weights 13 to rest on marine floor 12. Each anchor chain 9 is joined to the adjacent anchor chain by connecting member 15 in order to bring into play the resistance of the adjacent weights and achieve a more uniform distribution of the dislocating force. This arrangement maintains a constant tension upon the anchoring means without causing the buoyant compartment 5 aflixed to the upper end of the tower 1 to become submerged due to tidal changes.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the conduit 6 is connected by means of a swing or swivel flange 16 to an L-shaped conduit 17 axially rotatable in a horizontal plane about the flange; L-shaped conduit 17 can be dismounted and stored inside buoy 5 when not in use; buoy 5 is fitted with A-frame 18 and power winch 20 in order to assist in the mounting and dismounting of L-shaped conduit 17. A fitting 19 is mounted on the open end of the horizontal arm to which may be connected a loading hose 21 leading to the intake manifold 22 of the vessel 23 (shown in FIGURE 4).

On the deck 24 of the buoy 5 there is an annular track 25 which guides mooring hook 26 in a 360 circle of movement about the deck 24. Mooring hook 26 is at its upper extremity secured to the horizontal arm of the L-shaped conduit 17 thereby providing further support for said arm and enabling the arm and mooring hook to move in unison.

A perforated, truncated cone-shaped section 27 is secured to the bottom of buoy 5. The escape and entry of sea water into the cone creates a force which follows and opposes the vertical movement of the buoy-tower.

Below the cone-shaped section 27 a centrally apertured disc 28, having a diameter of about 40 feet, is radially disposed about the tower 1; an annular rim 29 is attached to the circumference of disc 28 to form a bumper which affords protection from protruding bows and also serves to dampen vertical movement of the tower.

A counterweight 31 is attached to each of two cables 32, each cable running through pulleys 33 and then connecting with flexible hoses 7 at clamps 34. A wire 35 extends from the base of each counterweight 31 and terminates in a loop, each loop encircling a cable 32 and serving to guide counterweights 31 in their vertical movement along cables 32. This counterweight system prevents flexible hoses 7 from bending due to vertical movement of the entire tower structure.

A metal casing 30, shown as A inch plate, encloses the tower 1 and provides added strength to the structure.

Referring to FIGURE 3, I have illustrated the deck 24 of the buoyant compartment secured to the upper end of the tower 1. The water-tight variably buoyant cylinders 2 are shown in the circular configuration which defines an aperture 4 extending the length of the tower 1. The vertical conduit 6 is axially disposed within the aperture 4.

L-shaped conduit 17 is rotatably mounted to fluid passage conduit 6. A fitting 19 is mounted on the open end of the horizontal arm of 17 in order to permit an oilloading hose 21 to be secured thereto. Annular track 25 is radially disposed about fluid passage conduit 6.

Referring to FIGURE 4, I have diagrammatically illustrated tower 1 to which oil tanker 23 is moored by means of mooring chain 36. A floating hose 21 extends from the L-shaped conduit to two loading hoses 37 which lead to the tankers intake manifold 22. Float-sink mooring buoys 38 can be placed in a circle about the tower 1 and used when weather circumstances require by means of bow and/or stern ropes 39 which secure the tanker 23 to the float-sink buoys 38 and keep it stationary.

The tower can be rolled from the shore to sea where a floating derrick barge can be employed to transport it to the desired location. By flooding the buoyant chambers to acquire a negative buoyancy, the tower can then be positioned on the marine floor while anchors, anchor chains, and weights are carefully fitted to effect the desired tension.

While I have illustrated the mooring tower of my invention as comprised of cylindrical elongated compartments, these compartments can be any other functionally equivalent shape. Also, the mooring tower can be used in fresh water as well as sea water and can also be adapted to purposes other than loading of oils and liquids, including the conveyance of air-blown powdered materials, housing of ship-to-shore power, telephone, fuel and fresh water lines and the like.

I claim:

1. A buoyant mooring tower comprising:

(a) a plurality of elongated compartments of variable buoyancy disposed to form a tower;

(b) a buoyant compartment attached to the upper end of the tower and adapted to float at the surface of the water with the elongated compartments depending therefrom;

(c) anchoring means secured to the lower end of the tower for anchoring the mooring tower to the marine bottom;

(d) means for varying the buoyancy of the elongated compartments;

(e) conduit means in the tower and buoyant compartment for the passage of fluids therethrough from a submarine supply line to the deck of the buoyant compartment; and

(f) means on the buoyant compartment for mooring and further conduit means connected to said conduit means for the passage of fluids to a floating vessel.

2. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 in which the elongated compartments are cylinders.

V 4 3. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 in which the elongated compartments are surrounded by a protective casing.

4. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 which also 5 includes:

(a) a conduit on the deck of the buoyant compart' ment axially rotatable in a horizontal plane about a coupling with the fluid passage conduit means for connection with the fluid intake means of the floating vessel; and

(b) an annular track on the deck of the buoyant compartment and a mooring hook situated in the track to permit vessels moored thereto a 360 circle of movement about the tower.

5. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 which also includes an inverted, perforated, frustum of a cone coaxially disposed about the tower, having its base joined to the periphery of the bottom surface of the buoyant compartment and the truncated end of the cone engaging the external surface of the tower.

6. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 which also includes a disc radially disposed about elongated compartments.

7. The buoyant mooring tower of claim 1 in which the anchoring means is comprised of:

(a) a plurality of anchor chains, each having one end secured about the periphery of the lower section of the tower and having the other end secured to an anchor fixed in the marine bottom;

(b) a plurality of weights attached to the anchor chains at a point intermediate the anchor and tower, such attachment being implemented by means which allow the weight to rest on the marine bottom while still maintaining tension on the anchor chains; and

(c) means by which each anchor chain is joined to the adjacent chains at the location of the weights to permit the resistance of the adjacent weights to provide a more uniform distribution of dislocating force.

8. A buoyant mooring tower comprising:

(a) a plurality of elongated cylindrical compartments of variable buoyancy disposed to form a tower and surrounded by a protective casing;

(b) a buoyant compartment attached to the upper end of the tower and adapted to float at the surface of the water with the elongated compartments depending therefrom;

(c) anchoring means secured to the lower end of the tower for anchoring the mooring tower to the marine bottom, which includes:

(i) a plurality of anchor chains, each having one end secured about the periphery of the lower section of the tower and having the other end secured to an anchor fixed in the marine bottom;

(ii) a plurality of weights attached to the anchor chains at a point intermediate the anchor and tower, such attachment being implemented by means which allow the weight to rest on the marine bottom while still maintaining tension on the anchor chains; and

(iii) means by which each anchor chain is joined to the adjacent chains at the location of the weights to permit the resistance of the adjacent Weights to provide a more uniform distribution of dislocating force;

(d) means for varying the buoyancy of the elongated compartments;

(e) conduit means in the tower and buoyant compartment for the passage of fluids therethrough from a 7 submarine supply line to the deck of the buoyant compartment; (f) means on the buoyant compartment for mooring and passage of fluids to a floating vessel, which includes;

(i) a conduit on the deck of the buoyant compartment axially rotatable in a horizontal plane about a coupling wit-h the fiuid passage conduit means for connection with the fluid intake means of the floating vessel; and (ii) an annular track on the deck of the buoyant compartment and a mooring hook situated in the track to permit vessels moored thereto a 360 circle of movement about the tower; (g) a disc radially disposed about the protective casing surrounding the elongated compartments; and (h) an inverted, perforated, frustum of a cone c0- axially disposed about the tower, having its base joined to the periphery of the bottom surface of the buoyant compartment and the truncated end of the cone engaging the external surface of the tower.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 4/1939 Great Britain.

MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

15 T. MAJOR, Assistant Examiner. 

